Louise Collins

Was 2015 your first IHSA Conference? No, my first was Galway 2012. I knew nothing of IHSA and was quickly swept into the organising committee as the Chief Organiser had become injured a week before the Conference!

What attracted you to IHSA and An Cumann Staire? I initially joined An Cumann Staire in 2011 as a result of a group of friends dragging me along to a ‘boring’ History lecture in NUIG. As a Nursing student I had little interest in History, but a few short months later I found myself turning up to most of the lectures, events and social gatherings and going forward for a position on committee. My opinion was completely turned around and I wanted to get as involved in An Cumann Staire as possible. This lead also to my involvement with IHSA, which is primarily behind the scenes in an organisational and supportive capacity. 2015 will be my 4th IHSA Conference.

Best Memory of the Conferences? Someone really confused asking me where ‘The Arts Millennium Building’ (NUIG) was. They were standing in it and had just given their paper and of course, our gatherings at Costello’s of Limerick.

What are you looking forward to most about Galway 2016? Catching up with friends whom I see once a year or so at IHSA Conferences.

The conference should prove to be a roaring success with the ideas we have coming on stream, the advances in technology and research that makes them possible and as always with the fantastic standard of research evident in the 3rd Level Institutions both in and outside the island of Ireland. Last year’s conference organisers in the University of Limerick did a fine job in showcasing some of the best papers to date and a hearty congratulations must go to them for their efforts in that regard!

Jordan Markey presenting his paper at IHSA 2015, University of Limerick

This blog will serve as a medium not only for us to communicate with you regarding the Call for Papers and other official matters, but it is envisaged will also allow for a less formal, more collegial conversation to emerge. To that end I am delighted to announce that our Vice-Chair, Martin O’Donoghue, has agreed to write a blog on this page. Martin’s work will cover not only the planning and running of the conference behind the scenes, but will also touch on aspects of writing abstracts and papers, research difficulties, thoughts and opinions on events of historical significance as well as a wide variety of other related matters. I also hope to make contributions here and there and would hope too that our other committee members would contribute to the conversation; this year’s committee has both Undergraduates and Postgraduates as well as non-History students considering presenting a paper for the first time. I’m sure you’ll agree that this will provide us with a rich seam of insight.

That’s all I have for the moment folks. Please be sure to follow our progress on Twitter, Facebook and here. If you would like to subscribe to our email, then please just email ihsa2016@gmail.com